The Comment by Torres-Alvarado et al. is another attempt of the group led by S.P. Verma to deny subduction in the genesis of the Trans-Mexican volcanic belt. Verma first supported a mantle plume model (Marquez et al., 1999) and then explicitly dismissed it in favor of a continental rifting hypothesis (Sheth et al., 2000), which is also defended in Torres-Alvarado et al.'s Comment. Here we clarify the aspects of our model misunderstood by Torres-Alvarado et al. and show that rifting cannot be the sole cause of the Trans-Mexican volcanic belt volcanism.